Got up early to go the Post Office to post a load of my souvenirs home (like that cowboy hat and baseball bat) – it must be a universal thing that there is always a queue of at least 15 people in the post office, but the staff were all very helpful.

Got my hair cut it some trendy salon as I didn’t want to walk around any more to look for somewhere cheaper. Fed up of walking around I went on a highly entertaining tour around the city on a motorised tram/car type of vehicle. We got plenty of views of many of the parks around San Francisco and the downtown area – plenty of pics as usual. I got some nice pics of the Pacific – in a few days I would be seeing the South Pacific!

This day started quite slowly.Did some laundry in the morning and managed to find and get my photos all backed up to DVD – hence this is why you can see them all now. (In fact I realised 4 years late I haven’t actually uploaded the ones from this day!)

Walked up the road from my hostel and had a look at the new St Mary’s Cathedral. Plenty more walking later all the way down to Bay 30, where i saw the Richard Bonhomme amphibious assault carrier because it was Navy Day – hence the Navy Officer’s hat from the other day. After an hour long wait out in the sun which was worth it. The marines on board explained all the kit they had on board. The hovercraft, vehicles and numerous guns all displayed neatly around. As usual I asked plenty of questions! Sadly on the deck all the aircraft had been taken away :( . They did have a big crane which was exciting but not as much as a deck full of aircraft would have been! href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdd/3401294685/”&gt; In the evening I meet up with my friend Aislin who went to the same uni for a term and her frien Dani, we walked around a bit, up to Lomabard Street. Wangled our way back to Japan town where we went to Benihama (or however its spelt) where the chefs cook it in front of you – plenty of knife waving and chopping, not the greatest of tasting but very entertaining. Todays Route and Pics

Although the USA trip had ended my adventure had not! I had a few more days in San Francisco so I wanted to make the most of it. In the morning I went and managed to work out the correct tram to get from my hostel down to the sea front and back down to pier 42 and met up with some of the group. I had bought tickets last night in the hotel to go to Jail – well specifically the big famous one sitting in the bay! We had an expensive breakfast in one the nearby many restaurants and boarded the ferry.

We got to the island which is now a National Park – which of course means more Park Rangers! Up the slope and into the prison where we had an audio tour. I kept trying to spot the bits where Nick Cage was standing(from the film) however

What I liked about visting Alcatraz was that very little has been done to alter it so when you visit that it is you can really sense the atmosphere and you can imagine the notorious criminals sitting in their cells.

Outside you get some pretty views of San Fransisco as well from the Rock. Most of the group left early I stayed a bit more on the island and took plenty more pictures of the bay.

I got the boat back and then went for a bit of walk exploring – I eventually found my way to Coit Tower and paid the modest fee. I timed in perfectly to see the sunset and you can see what I saw :)

Decided to walk back to the hostel and save a $1.50 on the bus, it was all downhill and I got a feel of the city and right trhough Chinatown. Later in the evening went to the hotle were the others were staying and had pizza and beer and we all said bye bye.

We got up at a reasonable time time and back on to the bus heading off to Lake Tahoe, out of the mountains and towards the coast,San Francisco. Closer to the city we were kindly greeted by the first traffic jam of the entire trip and also the roaring of the Navy’s Blue Angels shooting ahead above us. We ended up at a hotel and we were all unceremoniously unloaded from the bus alogn with all our bags. I went down to the hostel to sort my self out before joining the rest of the group at Pier 39 (the one with all the Sea Lions( for a boat trip.

After that went to eat clam chowder in a bread bowl which was horrendously expensive. Went for a few drinks and said bye bye to a few people of the group and bye bye to our Tour Leader. The girls got chatting to some Navy Officers and got a cool pic in a Navy Officers hat. whom I found out were here for Navy Day, hence all the ships in the docks and the Blue Angels earlier in the day. Went back to my hostel for a night in a real bed an not on the floor.